THE northern park-and-ride has been hailed a great success in the past few days - but a leading transport officer in Worcester admits the true test is yet to come.

Use of the park-and-ride at Perdiswell was to remain free today.

However, fees will be introduced on Monday.

"Park-and-ride has got off to a very encouraging start," said Paul Kyte, Worcester City Council's assistant engineer.

"More than 500 people a day have been using the service, which has meant about 250 fewer cars coming into the city each day.

"It will be interesting to see what happens next week when holiday period is well and truly over. It's difficult to tell whether the service has directly affected traffic levels, because patterns always fluctuate during holidays."

Mr Kyte stressed that the park-and-ride was a "small part of a bigger traffic management picture" and was not expected to solve congestion on its own.

The service will cost £1 for one driver and a car to park at the 450-space facility in Droitwich Road and to travel to the city centre and back. Cars with up to five occupants will be charged £2.

Saver cards allowing six days' of travel are to be introduced in June, said the council.